Produce for Kids Powers Up Lunchbox Pledge
Produce for Kids (PFK) and its 11 produce partners are encouraging families to take an online vow to eat a healthier lunch during the Power Your Lunchbox Pledge campaign, running Aug. 8 through Sept. 23.
The website offers tips and recipes to help families and schoolchildren eat healthier lunches, after-school snacks and weekday dinners. For every online pledge, companies supporting the initiative will make a collective $1 donation to Feeding America programs that help families and youngsters.
PFK’s produce partners are featured in online recipes, in digital communications to more than 25,000 subscribers, in targeted social media promotions and in e-coupons offered to those taking the pledge. This year’s partners are Avocados from Mexico - Mexican Hass Avocados, Bee Sweet Citrus, Crispy Fruit Freeze-Dried Fruit Snacks from Crispy Green, Eat Smart Fresh Cut Vegetables, Earthbound Farm Baby Kale, Grow Bananas by Organics Unlimited, Marie’s Dressings, Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice, NatureFresh greenhouse tomatoes, Pero Family Farms Mini Sweet Peppers and Snipped Green Beans, and Sun World grapes, with additional support provided by Bentology.
During the campaign, PFK will give away a Bentology bento box daily and host a #PowerYourLunchbox Twitter party enabling users to take part in an hour-long conversation about back-to-school and healthy lunches. Further, families will be encouraged to use the #PowerYourLunchbox hashtag on social media throughout the campaign when sharing ideas with each other.
“Back-to-school is a great time for families to make a healthy resolution they can carry on through the duration of the school year,” said Trish James, VP of Orlando, Fla.-based PFK. “As a mom of two boys, I understand the challenges parents face when packing a healthy, nutritious lunch for their children and for themselves. The Power Your Lunchbox Pledge was designed to help families tackle this universal challenge.”
Pledge Extends to We Heart RDs
PFK’s back-to-school-themed We Heart RDs kit, sent to retail dietitians this month, includes pledge sheets, “I Pledged” stickers and lunchbox recipes, and the campaign website features a dedicated retail dietitian section.
“Retail dietitians are in a position where they can support families during the back-to-school timeframe while they are in the store making decisions,” added James. “It made sense to bring the Power Your Lunchbox message to our more than 300 retail dietitians so that they can share healthy back-to-school recipes with shoppers.”
As well as grocery store outreach, educators can get involved in the campaign by visiting the site’s teacher resource page, which provides teachers in grades K-5 with free nutrition-focused downloadable lesson plans, certificates for students, take-home materials for families, and the ability to take the pledge as a classroom.
Since its advent in 2014, the campaign has raised more than $15,000 for kids’ health-and-wellness programs across the United States. Created in 2002 by Shuman Produce Inc., PFK has raised more than $5.7 million to benefit kids.